Tag Archives: Teacher Activists

Khalif and Victoria Rasshan found African American Museum of Beginnings

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After they retired, educators Khalif and Victoria Rasshan founded The African American Museum of Beginnings (TAAMB) in Pomona, California. Photo credit: TAAMB.

Retired educators often become involved in projects that improve and enrich their community. This is certainly true of Khalif and Victoria Rasshan, a married couple who are both retired teachers from the Pomona Unified School District (PUSD) in Pomona, California. The pair established, curate, and run an African American museum in their home town of Pomona.

The African American Museum of Beginnings (TAAMB) is a community museum that inspires and educates all who are interested in the history, culture, and arts of Africans and African Americans. The museum offers exhibits, programs, and community engagement. The collection includes information dating back from 6,000 BC to the present. In addition, ancient artifacts and little-known African contributions are on full display. The Rasshans founded the museum in 2011 after they retired following more than three decades in the teaching profession. The couple credits Gloria Morrison and Alma Morrison Rahmaan for the inspiration for the museum. In the early 1990’s, the Morrison sisters called for relevant cultural education for their children.

Khalif was born in Los Angeles and raised in Compton, California. He graduated from Garey High School in Pomona in 1969. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the University of La Verne in La Verne, California, in 1973. He earned his Master’s degree in Education from Azusa Pacific University in Azusa in 1977. He was employed as a high school English and Social Studies teacher in the Pomona Unified School District (PUSD) from 1976 to 2010, a total of 34 years. Victoria graduated from Centennial High School in Compton, California, and, like her husband, studied at La Verne University. She is a retired elementary teacher from PUSD. In 1969, Victoria was honored as her District’s Teacher of the Year.

To learn more about the TAAMB and to visit the museum website, click on this link to www.taamb.org.

 

Ohio’s Norma Marcere: African American trailblazer

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Norma Marcere of Canton, Ohio, was a trailblazer in her community. Photo credit: www.cantonrep.com

I enjoy sharing stories about African American teachers who have overcome obstacles to become trailblazers in their community. Norma Marcere of Canton, Ohio, was one such teacher.

Norma was born on Oct. 21, 1908, in Canton, Ohio. As a young girl, she attended Canton McKinley High School, where she graduated in 1926. As soon as she graduated, Norma enrolled at Kent State Normal University. There she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and her Master’s degree in Counseling.

Norma applied for a teaching position in her home town, Canton, but her application was denied because of she was African American. However, she was able to gain employment as an English teacher at Edmund A. Junior High School in the Massillon City School District in the neighboring city of Massillon. Later she accepted a position as a counselor and school psychologist in Akron City Schools.

In 1976, Norma retired from the teaching profession and penned two autobiographies. One was entitled Round the Dining Room Table and the other was entitled The Fences Between. In 1994, the events depicted in these books were re-written into play format which was performed before an audience of 12,000 people.

In 1979, the former teacher founded the Project for Academic Excellence, a weekend program that offered tutoring and assistance to underachieving students. The program evolved into the STRIVE (Study, Think, Read, Investigate, Volunteer, and Excel) program, which helped students deal with social issues and develop personal responsibility.

For her work in the classroom, Norma earned many accolades. She was named the Junior League Woman of the Year in 1973. Walsh University gave her an honorary doctorate in 1980. In 1991 she garnered the Norma Award, an honor named after Norma Sigler Atkins Rowlands. In 1998, the Office for Black Catholic Ministries of the Diocese of Toledo bestowed their Sister Thea Bowman Medallion on Norma. She was inducted into the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame in 1985.

This Chalkboard Champion passed away from natural causes on Aug. 10, 2004. She was 95 years old. She is interred at St. Peter’s Cemetery in Canton, Stark County, Ohio.

New York’s Brian P. Jones: Educator, author, and activist

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There are many great stories about remarkable African American teachers. One New York’s Brian P. Jones: Educator, author, and activist. Photo credit: www.gc.commons.cuny.edu

There are many great stories about remarkable African American teachers. One is New York’s Brian P. Jones: Educator, author, and activist.

Brian earned his Bachelor’s degree in Theater Arts from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1995. He earned his Master’s degree in Elementary Education from City College of New York, New York,  in 2006. He completed the requirements for his Ph.D. in Urban Education at the CUNY Graduate Center in 2018.

Brian inaugurated his career as an elementary school educator in New York City Public Schools, where he taught for the nine years between 2003 and 2012. During those years, he was a teacher at PS 125, PS 30, and PS 261.

Once he left the elementary classroom, Brian devoted his considerable energy towards educational pursuits. He is currently the Associate Director of Education at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. For many years he has been a member of the Board of Directors of Voices of a People’s History of the United States, an organization that telling nontraditional stories about American history. He worked with famous historian Howard Zinn on that project. He has also published extensively, in many periodicals, including The New York Times, The Guardian, The Journal of Negro Education, and Chalkbeat. He also served on the New York State Education Department Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education Advisory Panel in 2018.
For his work in the field of education, Brian is the recipient of awards and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Institute for Museum and Library Services, the Lannan Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the City University of New York.
To read more about Chalkboard Champion Brian P. Jones, see this link to Academia.

Pennsylvania’s Laura Towne: She taught emancipated slaves

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Laura Towne

Chalkboard Champion Laura Towne  from Pennsylvania opened a school for emancipated slaves as the War Between the States raged around her. Photo credit: Beufort County Library.

American history is full of Chalkboard Champions who risked life and limb for their students. One of these educators is Laura Towne, who taught newly-emancipated African Americans, even though the Civil War raged around her.

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1825, Laura was raised in Philadelphia, where she moved in socially progressive circles. She was formally educated as both a homeopathic physician and as a school teacher. She was also a dedicated abolitionist.

During the Civil War, Laura was one of the first Northern women to go south to work with newly-freed slaves. She traveled to St. Helena Island in Port Royal, South Carolina, where she founded the first school for freed slaves, even though the War Between the States continued to rage all around her.

Laura Towne was practical, independent, down-to-earth, and strong-willed. She readily entered into the life of St. Helena Island, where she began her work attending to the medical needs of the freed slaves. In June, 1862, Laura gave up her medical practice, and together with Ellen Murray, her life-long friend and fellow teacher, opened the first school for freed slaves. Laura named her institution the Penn School. Nine adult students enrolled in the school, which operated out of the back room of an abandoned plantation house. Unlike most schools established for emancipated slaves, Laura’s school offered a rigorous curriculum, which was modeled on the schools of New England.

Laura spent forty years running her school and grew to love the life she had established in Port Royal. She and Ellen eventually adopted several African American children and raised them as their own. Upon her death in 1901, Laura bequeathed the Penn School to the historically Black College Hampton Institute, at which time the school began operating as the Penn Normal, Industrial, and Agricultural School.
Laura Towne: A true Chalkboard Champion. To learn more about her, click on this link to read her biography published by the Social Welfare History Project sponsored by Virginia Commonwealth University.

E. Alice Taylor: Educator, social reformer, and community organizer

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Educator, social reformer, and community organizer E. Alice Taylor of Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo credit: African Americans in Boston)

I truly believe that teachers are among the most dedicated social reformers in any community. One such teacher is E. Alice Taylor, an educator and community organizer from Boston, Massachusetts.

Alice was born in 1892 in Alexander, Arkansas. She was a graduate of Arkansas Baptist College, earning her degree in 1913. At some point, she established her home in Boston.

In 1927, Alice founded a branch of Annie Malone’s Poro Beauty School and Beauty Shoppe in Boston. She managed the vocational school for 15 years, until the outbreak of World War II forced its closure. By then, the facility had grown to employ 15 teachers and to serve 150 students each year, and it had become one of New England’s largest minority-owned businesses.

In addition to her work as an educator, Alice founded and served as the president of the Professional Hairdressers Association of Massachusetts. She also served as an officer and a board member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for 50 years. She was a member of numerous community service organizations, including the League of Women for Community Service, the Charitable Health Association of Massachusetts, Massachusetts State Union of Women’s Clubs, and the Massachusetts Human Relations Committee.

This amazing Chalkboard Champion passed away from natural causes on January 1, 1986, in Boston. She was 94 years old. To read more about E. Alice Taylor, see this link to African Americans in Boston.